His inward experiences were higher than the Footstool and the Throne (of God); his (external) business was (to cry), “Something for God's sake, something for God's sake!”
برتر از کرسی و عرش اسرار او ** شیء لله شیء لله کار او
The prophets, every one, ply this same trade: the people (to whom they are sent) are (really) destitute, (yet) they (the prophets) practise beggary,2700
انبیا هر یک همین فن می‌زنند ** خلق مفلس کدیه ایشان می‌کنند
Crying, “Lend to God, lend to God,” and persevering contrariously in (the exhortation) “Help God!”
اقرضوا الله اقرضوا الله می‌زنند ** بازگون بر انصروا الله می‌تنند
This Shaykh is going as a suppliant from door to door, (while) in Heaven a hundred doors are opened for the Shaykh,
در به در این شیخ می‌آرد نیاز ** بر فلک صد در برای شیخ باز
Because the beggary that he practised (so) diligently was for the sake of God, not for the sake of his gullet;
که آن گدایی که آن به جد می‌کرد او ** بهر یزدان بود نه از بهر گلو
And even if he had done it for the sake of his gullet, that gullet hath (is endowed with) exorbitance by the Light of God.
ور بکردی نیز از بهر گلو ** آن گلو از نور حق دارد غلو
As regards him, the eating of bread and honey and the drinking of milk is better than the forty days' seclusion and the three days' fast of a hundred dervishes.2705
در حق او خورد نان و شهد و شیر ** به ز چله وز سه روزه‌ی صد فقیر
He eats Light, do not say he eats bread: he sows anemones (though) in appearance he feeds (on them).
نور می‌نوشد مگو نان می‌خورد ** لاله می‌کارد به صورت می‌چرد
Like the flame that consumes the oil (wax) in a candle, from his eating and drinking there is an increase of light for the company.
چون شراری کو خورد روغن ز شمع ** نور افزاید ز خوردش بهر جمع
God hath said, “Be not immoderate,” in reference to the eating of bread; He hath not said, “Be satisfied,” in reference to the eating of Light.
نان‌خوری را گفت حق لاتسرفوا ** نور خوردن را نگفتست اکتفوا
The former was the gullet subject to probation, while this (saintly) gullet was free from immoderation and secure from exorbitance.
آن گلوی ابتلا بد وین گلو ** فارغ از اسراف و آمن از غلو
(In the case of the Shaykh) ’twas (by) the (Divine) command and order, not (from) greed and cupidity: a spirit like that is not a follower of greed.2710
امر و فرمان بود نه حرص و طمع ** آن چنان جان حرص را نبود تبع
If the elixir say to the copper, “Give thyself up to me,” cupidity does not prevail (over it).
گر بگوید کیمیا مس را بده ** تو به من خود را طمع نبود فره
God had offered to the Shaykh (all) the treasures of the earth down to the seventh tier;
گنجهای خاک تا هفتم طبق ** عرضه کرده بود پیش شیخ حق
(But) the Shaykh said, “O Creator, I am a lover: if I seek aught but Thee, I am impious.
شیخ گفتا خالقا من عاشقم ** گر بجویم غیر تو من فاسقم
If I should bring into view the Eight Paradises, or if I should serve Thee from fear of Hell,
هشت جنت گر در آرم در نظر ** ور کنم خدمت من از خوف سقر
(Then) I am (only) a believer seeking salvation, for both these (motives) are concerned with the body.”2715
مومنی باشم سلامت‌جوی من ** زانک این هر دو بود حظ بدن
A hundred bodies are not worth a bean in the eyes of the lover who has received nutriment from God's love;
عاشقی کز عشق یزدان خورد قوت ** صد بدن پیشش نیرزد تره‌توت
And this body which the Shaykh of insight possesses has become something different: do not call it a body.
وین بدن که دارد آن شیخ فطن ** چیز دگر گشت کم خوانش بدن
(To be) in love with God's love and then (desire) a wage! (To be) a trusted Gabriel and then a thief!
عاشق عشق خدا وانگاه مزد ** جبرئیل متمن وانگاه دزد
In the eyes of that wretched lover of Laylá the kingdom of the world was (worthless as) a vegetable.
عاشق آن لیلی کور و کبود ** ملک عالم پیش او یک تره بود
Earth and gold were alike in his eyes. What of gold? (Even) his life had no value (for him).2720
پیش او یکسان شده بد خاک و زر ** زر چه باشد که نبد جان را خطر
Lions and wolves and wild beasts were acquainted with him and gathered round him like kinsfolk,
شیر و گرگ و دد ازو واقف شده ** هم‌چو خویشان گرد او گرد آمده
(Knowing) that this man had become entirely purged of animality and filled with love, and that his flesh and fat were poisonous (to them).
کین شدست از خوی حیوان پاک پاک ** پر ز عشق و لحم و شحمش زهرناک
The sweets scattered by Reason are poison to the wild beast, because the good of (that which is) good is antagonistic to (that which is) evil.
زهر دد باشد شکرریز خرد ** زانک نیک نیک باشد ضد بد
The wild beast dare not devour the flesh of the lover: Love is known both to the good and the evil;
لحم عاشق را نیارد خورد دد ** عشق معروفست پیش نیک و بد
And if the wild beast devour him even parabolically, the lover's flesh will become poison and kill him.2725
ور خورد خود فی‌المثل دام و ددش ** گوشت عاشق زهر گردد بکشدش
Everything except love is devoured by Love: to the beak of Love the two worlds are (but) a single grain.
هر چه جز عشقست شد ماکول عشق ** دو جهان یک دانه پیش نول عشق
Does a grain ever devour the bird? Does the manger ever feed on the horse?
دانه‌ای مر مرغ را هرگز خورد ** کاهدان مر اسپ را هرگز چرد
Do service (to God), that perchance thou mayst become a lover: (devotional) service is a means of gaining (Love): it comes into action (produces an effect).
بندگی کن تا شوی عاشق لعل ** بندگی کسبیست آید در عمل
The servant (of God) desires to be freed from Fortune; the lover (of God) nevermore desires to be free.
بنده آزادی طمع دارد ز جد ** عاشق آزادی نخواهد تا ابد
The servant is always seeking a robe of honour and a stipend; all the lover's robe of honour is his vision of the Beloved.2730
بنده دایم خلعت و ادرارجوست ** خلعت عاشق همه دیدار دوست
Love is not contained in speech and hearing: Love is an ocean whereof the depth is invisible.
در نگنجد عشق در گفت و شنید ** عشق دریاییست قعرش ناپدید
The drops of the sea cannot be numbered: the Seven Seas are petty in comparison with that Ocean.
قطره‌های بحر را نتوان شمرد ** هفت دریا پیش آن بحرست خرد
This discourse hath no end. Return, O reader, to the story of the Shaykh of the time.
این سخن پایان ندارد ای فلان ** باز رو در قصه‌ی شیخ زمان
On the meaning of “But for thee, I would not have created the heavens.”
در معنی لولاک لما خلقت الافلاک
A Shaykh like this became a beggar (going) from street to street. Love is reckless: beware!
شد چنین شیخی گدای کو به کو ** عشق آمد لاابالی اتقوا
Love makes the sea boil like a kettle; Love crumbles the mountain like sand;2735
عشق جوشد بحر را مانند دیگ ** عشق ساید کوه را مانند ریگ
Love cleaves the sky with a hundred clefts; Love unconscionably makes the earth to tremble.
عشق‌بشکافد فلک را صد شکاف ** عشق لرزاند زمین را از گزاف
The pure Love was united with Mohammed: for Love's sake God said to him, “But for thee.”
با محمد بود عشق پاک جفت ** بهر عشق او را خدا لولاک گفت
Since he alone was the ultimate goal in Love, therefore God singled him out from the (other) prophets,
منتهی در عشق چون او بود فرد ** پس مر او را ز انبیا تخصیص کرد
(Saying), “Had it not been for pure Love's sake, how should I have bestowed an existence on the heavens?
گر نبودی بهر عشق پاک را ** کی وجودی دادمی افلاک را
I have raised up the lofty celestial sphere, that thou mayst apprehend the sublimity of Love.2740
من بدان افراشتم چرخ سنی ** تا علو عشق را فهمی کنی
Other benefits come from the celestial sphere: it is like the egg, (while) these (benefits) are consequential, like the chick.
منفعتهای دیگر آید ز چرخ ** آن چو بیضه تابع آید این چو فرخ
I have made the earth altogether lowly, that thou mayst gain some notion of the lowliness of lovers.
خاک را من خوار کردم یک سری ** تا ز خواری عاشقان بویی بری
We have given greenness and freshness to the earth, that thou mayst become acquainted with the (spiritual) transmutation of the dervish.”
خاک را دادیم سبزی و نوی ** تا ز تبدیل فقیر آگه شوی
These firm-set mountains describe (represent) to thee the state of lovers in steadfastness,
با تو گویند این جبال راسیات ** وصف حال عاشقان اندر ثبات
Although that (state) is a reality, while this (description) is (only) an image, O son, (which is employed) in order that he (who offers it) may bring it nearer to thy understanding.2745
گرچه آن معنیست و این نقش ای پسر ** تا به فهم تو کند نزدیک‌تر
They liken anguish to thorns; it is not that (in reality), but they do so as a means of arousing (thy) attention.
غصه را با خار تشبیهی کنند ** آن نباشد لیک تنبیهی کنند
When they called a hard heart “stony,” that was (really) inappropriate, (but) they made it serve as a similitude.
آن دل قاسی که سنگش خواندند ** نامناسب بد مثالی راندند
The archetype of that (object of comparison) is inconceivable: put the blame on thy conceptual faculty, and do not regard it (the archetype) as negated (nonexistent).
در تصور در نیاید عین آن ** عیب بر تصویر نه نفیش مدان
How the Shaykh, in obedience to the intimation from the Unseen, went with his basket four times in one day to the house of a certain Amír for the purpose of begging; and how the Amír rebuked him for his impudence, and how he excused himself to the Amír.
رفتن این شیخ در خانه‌ی امیری بهر کدیه روزی چهار بار به زنبیل به اشارت غیب و عتاب کردن امیر او را بدان وقاحت و عذر گفتن او امیر را